Environment Report 8 Jan2001 to 14 Jan 2001

TABLE OF CONTENTS

S/N	Title	Synopsis
I. Subject Area: Environmental Management
1	UK's £50 million boost for kerbside recycling schemes	Prime Minister Tony Blair announces that an additional £50 million will be made available for kerbside recycling schemes through the New Opportunities Fund.
II. Subject Area: Environmental Technology
2	Study turns scrap from domestic incineration into alloys	Researchers at Leeds University are investigating a new approach to steel recycling which turns less desirable scrap from domestic incineration into alloys that actually improve steel quality.
III. Subject Area: Environmental Policy
3	USA's first emissions control plan for fossil-fuel plants.	New Hamphire's Governor Jeanne Shaheen announced a new plan to reduce pollution from the state's three fossil-fuel plants.
IV. Subject Area: General Environmental News
4	EPA launches website for diesel engine retrofit efforts	EPA launches a new website designed to help equipment fleet operators retrofit diesel engines.
5	Droughts might increase CO₂ in atmosphere	Researchers postulate that droughts due to global warming could cause a biological process in soils that would release large amounts of CO₂ into the air. This process could lead to further warming and possibly speed up other climate changes.
6	Global warming may be creating a "dead zone" in the Japan Sea	Rising temperatures are shutting down a circulation process that is crucial to life in the Japan Sea and the same problem could affect oceans across the planet.

SUMMARY REPORT

Period Covered: 8 Jan2001 to 14 Jan 2001

Item 1

UK's £50 million boost for kerbside recycling schemes

Summary

Prime Minister Tony Blair announces that an additional £50 million will be made available for kerbside recycling schemes through the New Opportunities Fund. The proposed £50 million will help provide kerbside recycling schemes for 700,000 households.

Waste Watch, the national organisation set up to educate, inform and raise awareness on waste reduction, reuse and recycling, welcomes the announcement.

Tony Blair said that he wanted every local authority to offer doorstep recycling, and gave a clear signal to local authorities about how the Waste Startegy target should be met.

Reference

Waste management, Nov 2000, page 14

Item 2	Study turns scrap from domestic incineration into alloys
Summary	Researchers at Leeds University are investigating a new approach to steel recycling which turns less desirable scrap such as tin-plate from domestic incineration into alloys that actually improve steel quality. Scientists led by Professor Bob Cochrane believe one solution could lie in the deliberate use of copper and tin as alloying additions. The team has been looking at whether the possibility of deliberately forming compounds with tin and steel can be extended to other scrap metals such as aluminum. This would make it possible to use mixed loads of tin-plate, aluminum can scrap and incinerator scrap with savings in costs of sorting the material prior to use.
Reference	Technology Partnership Initiative, Oct 2000 Issue, page 5

Item 3	USA's first emissions control plan for fossil-fuel plants.
Summary	New Hamphire's Governor Jeanne Shaheen announced a new plan, reputedly first in the USA, on 8 Jan 2001 to reduce pollution from the state's three fossil-fuel plants. Owners of the plants would be required to meet reduced emissions targets by using new technology, purchasing emissions credits, or through a combination of the two. The plan, which focuses on four pollutants, would give the plants a five-year window to meet the following targets: SO2 and particulates. A 75% further reduction over those federally mandated in 2000. NOx. A 70% further reduction of such emissions bringing them 90% below 1990 levels. Hg. A 75% additional reduction to recent emission levels at coal plants (no federal regulations exist). CO2. A 7% further reduction from 1990 emission levels, which is the reduction called for in the Kyoto Treaty The four-pollutant approach crafted by the state Department of Environmental Services at the governor's direction reputedly puts New Hampshire at the forefront of pollution control.
Reference	http://www.Pollutiononline.com, 12 Jan 2001

Item 4	EPA launches website for diesel engine retrofit efforts
Summary	EPA launches a new website designed to help equipment fleet operators retrofit diesel engines. The site, located at www.epa.gov/otaq/retrofit, provides information on the agency's voluntary Diesel Retrofit Program, which seeks to encourage companies to retrofit older engines. The procedures of the state implementation plan for initiating diesel retrofit programs and information on clean diesel technologies are also posted. The site offers manufacturers' guidance on obtaining EPA verification.
Reference	ENR, January 1/January 8, 2001, page 29

Item 5	Droughts might increase CO2 in atmosphere
Summary	Researchers from University of Wales, suggested that the increased droughts forecasted by some climate models could dehydrate soils to the point where an enzyme, dormant in moist, peaty soils, abruptly activates, triggering decomposition of their organic matter. The drought could dry the soil, admitting oxygen and allowing the enzyme called phenol oxydase to begin decomposing organic matter and activate other compounds that inhibit the activity of other enzymes, leading to a "chain reaction". The decay of organic matter would release large amounts of CO₂, a greenhouse gas commonly associated with global warming. The process could lead to further warming and possibly speed up other climate changes.
Reference	http://www.Pollutiononline.com, 12 Jan 2001

Item 6	Global warming may be creating a "dead zone" in Japan Sea
Summary	A researcher from the Institute for Applied Mechanics found out that the current in the Japan Sea is now very weak and that it does not reach down beyond a few hundred meters. The oxygen level at 2500m is falling at a rate that would reduce it to zero within 350 years. This would choke off life at the bottom of the food chain. It could be caused by global warming. During the past 50 year, the average temperature around the northern Japan Sea has increased by between 1.5 and 3° C. The surface water stays warmer in winter, which weakens convection currents. The researcher suspected that the same problem is happening in open oceans as well.
Reference	http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id-ns2273333

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